A social worker named Aabha Muralidharan has filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the automatic disqualification of a member of parliament or a state legislature upon conviction and sentencing for not less than two years. The petition comes in the backdrop of the conviction and sentencing of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi by a Surat court for defamation. The court had awarded him two years of imprisonment and a fine of Rs 15,000, but had also granted him bail and suspended his sentence to enable him to appeal against his conviction within 30 days.
The petitioner has argued that Section 8(3) of the Representation of People Act, 1951, which provides for the automatic disqualification, is unconstitutional and violates the right to free speech and expression of the lawmakers. The petitioner has also claimed that Section 8(3) is inconsistent with other provisions of the same Act, which prescribe different grounds and criteria for disqualification.
The petitioner has suggested that instead of automatic disqualification, the nature and gravity of the offence, the moral turpitude and the role of the accused should be taken into account while deciding on the disqualification. The petitioner has further contended that Section 8(3) does not explicitly state that a lawmaker shall stand or forthwith disqualified upon being sentenced to imprisonment for not less than two years, and therefore there cannot be an automatic disqualification.
